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How should i partition my hard drives?

arpalermo

Posted 05 June 2008 - 04:19 AM

arpalermo

Member

Member

39 posts

I just finished building my computer but I'm not sure how to format the hard drives - this computer is going to be used mostly for gaming (lots of newer games taking up lots of space) and storing music and videos

How much space should i use for XP? This is were my gaming will be done - should i make a seperate partition for installing games? How big should my ubuntu partition be? Should i put them on different hard drives? I also plan on installing vista eventually too but not now.

What formats should i use? I need to be able to transfer large files (around 10gb) too (like game ISO's and DVD rips)

Ive got 2 250gb SATA hard drives

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Troy

Posted 05 June 2008 - 04:23 AM

Troy

Tech Staff

Technician

8,841 posts

Hi there,

I would suggest installing XP on one of the hard drives (and all the programs, such as your games). Then put everything else on your second hard drive (like all your data - large files - etc...), and separate a small partition for Ubuntu. How small is up to you - what are you going to use it for? I would say about 20GB is plenty, even 10GB is fine.

arpalermo

Posted 05 June 2008 - 04:33 AM

arpalermo

Member

Topic Starter

Member

39 posts

Do you mean 10 or 20gb is plenty for ubuntu? I will hardly be using it at all, ill just have it so i can learn how to use it. So should i make the first drive just one big partition for XP and programs? What format should i use?

arpalermo

Posted 05 June 2008 - 05:22 AM

Tyger

Posted 05 June 2008 - 09:12 AM

Tyger

Member 2k

Member

2,896 posts

Go with the 20gb for Ubuntu, 5gb will not hold everything you need. arpalermo's suggestion for the first drive is good, but for the second put the ntfs partition first and let Ubuntu use the remaining empty space to make it's installation on. That way if you want to uninstall Ubuntu or install a different version of Linux you will just need to remove that partition. BTW Linux is very handy for downloading and uploading and web browsing as it is practically immune from any trojans.